David, I have a scene in mind but it requires a representation of a star like the one that supposedly led the three wise men to the birthplace of the baby Jesus. I was wondering if such a thing is possible to produce in Bryce and if so how one would go about it?

David, I have a scene in mind but it requires a representation of a star like the one that supposedly led the three wise men to the birthplace of the baby Jesus. I was wondering if such a thing is possible to produce in Bryce and if so how one would go about it?

OK, why not, it’s the season to wander around after stars… I can think there would be a lot of ways to tackle this one, depending on what kind of effect you were thinking of. The effect I was thinking of may not be the one you are thinking of, so help me out here and post up a picture (or link to) of what closes approximates to what you’ve got in your minds eye.

David, I have a scene in mind but it requires a representation of a star like the one that supposedly led the three wise men to the birthplace of the baby Jesus. I was wondering if such a thing is possible to produce in Bryce and if so how one would go about it?

OK, why not, it’s the season to wander around after stars… I can think there would be a lot of ways to tackle this one, depending on what kind of effect you were thinking of. The effect I was thinking of may not be the one you are thinking of, so help me out here and post up a picture (or link to) of what closes approximates to what you’ve got in your minds eye.

Fair enough although I didn’t want to pidgeon hole you into something too specific on the chance Bryce could do something that works but yet isn’t quite the same. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to describe the scene. I’m envisioning a mountain scene near the top of some mountains. The ground is snow covered although not heavily. In the fore ground is a single pine with a decent Christmas tree shape. In the background are some mountain peaks and the horizon and a clear starry night sky. The camera is positioned and the tree of a sufficient size such that the top of the tree extends into the night sky and the Christmas star effect (to give it a term for discussion) is positioned and of a sufficent size to appear as if the star on top of a traditional Christmas tree. If I can figure out a reasonable way I may too have the tree somewhat decorated by things of nature, which would essentially be wind blown debris in the tree and yet have the appearence of decorations, perhaps by the tree being covered in ice and snow as well. Ideally the star would also cast a pale bluish white light on the tree or the tree would be in a pool of moonlight giving the tree somewhat of a lit highlighted effect compared to the surrounding terrain. If I could complete such a concept I’d title it “The First Christmas Tree” or “Mother Nature Celebrates Christmas”

The star would hopefully look something like this although maybe not quite as bright.

Oh dear. There was a tutorial in the old forum doing just this. As far as I recollect - draw the rays in a graphics application (white on black) and load it into Bryce as a 2D disk and put it behind a light source, having the black transparent. You can also use it as a gel for the light source. You could also use the Lens Flares from Clay Hagegusch that came as additional content with Bryce 7.1 Pro.

The 2D disc has its own exclusive light and also is aided by the sun showing through it - but otherwise the sunlight is disabled. A single soft edged spot lights the foreground. Haze turns the distant mountain tops blue and also makes the stars glow. Stars are given a boost from an internally generated HDRI backdrop added to the sky - HDRI provides no actual light. Thus keeping the render time nice and low.

Interested? Request the file. Also, keep a look out for Horo and my own product sale starting on the 25th!

Edit: Sent a copy to you Mark, hope that sets you on your way to your envisioned scene!

The 2D disc has its own exclusive light and also is aided by the sun showing through it - but otherwise the sunlight is disabled. A single soft edged spot lights the foreground. Haze turns the distant mountain tops blue and also makes the stars glow. Stars are given a boost from an internally generated HDRI backdrop added to the sky - HDRI provides no actual light. Thus keeping the render time nice and low.

Interested? Request the file. Also, keep a look out for Horo and my own product sale starting on the 25th!

Edit: Sent a copy to you Mark, hope that sets you on your way to your envisioned scene!

Looks pretty good, any chance of getting a full tutorial on this? No rush since you gave me the star already to work with but I’d kind of like to know how to make it from start to finish, I’d also be interested in knowing how to tone down the star just a bit. I’ve actually got a preliminary scene going for visualization using one of the landscapes from your Bryce Pro Landscapes product but at a different camera angle (see attached image). I’ll also look into the lens flair from Clay that you mentioned Horo. That might give me something similar but with more of a halo effect within the star? Kind of like the star, with a circle around it but the extreme points of the star extending beyond that circle? If you think it’s good enough to add to the next DVD you can hold off and include it there if you want rather then giving it to the world for free like you’ve done with so much other stuff.

Hi Mark, I’ll see what I can do about a video. No “the return of postage” was not for you - I have your email, but for anyone else reading this thread and wanting a copy of the set up. However, I suppose that was somewhat overly optimistic, since whenever I think to check the total number of users of the entire DAZ forum these days seems to amount to the sum of what I can count on my hands and my feet combined.

Hi Mark, I’ll see what I can do about a video. No “the return of postage” was not for you - I have your email, but for anyone else reading this thread and wanting a copy of the set up. However, I suppose that was somewhat overly optimistic, since whenever I think to check the total number of users of the entire DAZ forum these days seems to amount to the sum of what I can count on my hands and my feet combined.

Ah okay, I thought it was poking fun at the postage issue involved in Daz shipping the mentoring DVD Thanks for the video though I didn’t really expect you to do it so quickly. I mean obviously this is a Christmassy scene I’m shooting for so it would be natural to assume I want it done by Christmas but the reality is that with Christmas being tomorrow I’ll be too busy today and tomorrow with Christmas activities to complete this scene in time for tomorrow.